My bosses at work are really going all out when it comes to trying to computerize our operations. This is an electrical contractor business I work for, so they employ a lot of individuals who are typically out in the field working at a particular job site. At the moment, the foreman on the job site basically takes attendance and lets the office know who worked at the jobsite and from when to when.

The bosses here in the office for whatever reason do not like this system and wish to make it a little more accurate and honest. I suppose since a lot of these union guys are very friendly with each other the foreman will cover for a person and that's not acceptable to the office.

Were experimenting with Tablet PCs and giving them to the foreman at each job site. It's being used for a number of different things but now they'd like to get a biometric scanner and have each employee on the jobsite clock in individually via thumb print or something along those lines.

I've never really set something up like that before, but I'm the closest thing to a tech guy we have in the office here so it becomes my task to accomplish. Which then in turn I come here and you brilliant people help me out (I love you all)

So yeah...how should I approach this? The tablet does not have any kind of biometric scanner built into it. I'll have to purchase one but don't really know how to go about shopping for them. Any help as always would be greatly appreciated.

It's reasonably priced and I believe should work with the tablet PC, correct? My only concern is I wonder if there are any work arounds or loopholes where this can be abused by any dishonest workers? This whole idea is to stop paying people for extra time that they're not even there. I don't want to propose an idea to the bosses and have it not work out, cause I'll look like an idiot.

That device seem nice enough and all, but because it has to do with attendance and payroll and is union; I would think you are going to need a professional solution that will also offer the software as well as the hardware. I may be wrong but even if I am it will be in the Constructions company's best interest to go with a professional solution.

lol I actually thought overclocking something or another at first!...lol

Apparently does not work with Windows 7, which is the OS on the Tablet PCs that goes out into the field. The software, AttendanceRx, works fine, but the actual piece of hardware is incompatible according to the makers who I called.

I'm having trouble finding a portable thumbprint scanner like that with accompanying software. Might I be able to use the AttendanceRx software with a different piece of hardware? Or is it likely designed to only work with the thumbprint reader I originally linked?

After my discussion with the bosses, the solution must be one that stops the electricians from "buddy punching". One of the bosses here is an electrician and used to work in the field and claims it happens quite often in this union.

You might be better off using something like the military CAC. To sign in an show we reported for work you put the card in a computer, log in, then go to a program that records that data to a central computer.

But im a cop, not a desk jockey, so I cant really help you beyond the general concept. Having had to deal with finger print scanners and whatnot I can say their a huge pain in the balls. Especially in the field where your hands are gonna be dirty, and the scanner itself is gonna be dirty.

My boss had an idea that seemed simple but effective. The tablets have a built in webcam that I'm sure can take small snapshot jpegs. His idea was to essentially have them clock in using a .jpeg with a time stamp on it that would get emailed back to the office for him to check on a weekly basis. The files wouldn't be too large I imagine, and each individual job site only has 4-10 workers at a time. So that's 2 jpegs a day per person clocking in and later again clocking out.

I don't really see any major flaws with this system, and it doesn't seem like a huge inconvenience to anyone at the job site. The individual electricians can take the snapshot quickly and go off to work, and the foreman at the site who is responsible for the attendance can email them all at the end of the day.

do the bosses not trust the foreman to make a phone call saying "yup everyones here and we wont b leaving until such and such a time"

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No, they don't. As I said before, one of my bosses was an electrician who worked out on the field himself not so long ago. It's apparently very common for friends within the union to "buddy punch" another in. I know like it sounds like they're trying to be strict with trying to implement fingerprint scanners, or snapping a JPEG, etc. But it's a business and they're fair people, they're just making sure they're not getting taken advantage of since they've been using an honor system for so long where a foreman just calls in the info.

Ordinarily, they would just pop in at the job site to check in and I guess "spy". But a lot of these jobs are happening at odd hours where that just isn't feasible.

what's the cost of policing vs. the cost due to buddy punch ins ?
what about employee happiness?

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It's impossible to know how much money is lost due to buddy punch ins at the moment. Electricians get paid a fair amount of money here from a couple of papers I've seen left around. $40-55 an hour, and then $70 something an hour for overtime. Depending on how much this is going on, that can easily add up to thousands a year.

The business is owned by 3 family members, a father and his son and daughter. The father originally retired a number of years ago but due to the financial crisis in the US the last few years he came back to the business to try and save as much money as possible. So I think really their priority is tightening any leaking faucets right now, and not with the happiness of the union electricians they employ. They've been more than fair with them for over 20 years, they just want to make sure they're not getting cheated now.

Orbitz; you may want to join the Union, or at least speak to the Union representative to get some feedback and/or ideas from him/her first, see what they're willing to do and come to an agreement.
Some kind of relation between you and the employees/Union will hopefully stop them hating you when it comes into effect.

Orbitz; you may want to join the Union, or at least speak to the Union representative to get some feedback and/or ideas from him/her first, see what they're willing to do and come to an agreement.
Some kind of relation between you and the employees/Union will hopefully stop them hating you when it comes into effect.

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I like this idea, I'll admit I dont have much real world union knowledge. But it comes up alot in college business classes I've taken. And making sure the union isnt gonna shit a brick over these changes might be a good idea.

I like this idea, I'll admit I dont have much real world union knowledge. But it comes up alot in college business classes I've taken. And making sure the union isnt gonna shit a brick over these changes might be a good idea.

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they most definitely will. and since the company he works for is small, they should expect to see some union thugs outside their homes as soon as this change is implemented.

they most definitely will. and since the company he works for is small, they should expect to see some union thugs outside their homes as soon as this change is implemented.

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Send them buggers my way ...I will straighten them out! Nothing worse than a thug and the thug ways...... I am a little guy but have been giving many combat skills! I am good for 3-5 of them buggers no problem.

Send them buggers my way ...I will straighten them out! Nothing worse than a thug and the thug ways...... I am a little guy but have been giving many combat skills! I am good for 3-5 of them buggers no problem.

While I agree with you guys about the potential union issues, I am new here and my bosses have assured me they'll deal with the fallout and they would just like a solution. So what do you think is the best way to deal with buddy punching at job sites outside of the office?